NFC North draft analysis 
April, 24, 2010
By Kevin Seifert

Let's pull some highlights -- and lowlights -- of the NFC North's 2010 draft performance:

Best move

Sometimes the best decision is the most obvious one. Detroit systematically dismissed every dubious reason for passing over the draft's best player and jumped at the opportunity to select Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.

Lions general manager Martin Mayhew wasn't concerned that defensive tackles typically aren't paid the kind of money he'll be required to give Suh as the No. 2 overall pick. Coach Jim Schwartz didn't care that Suh played in a scheme that is fundamentally different from the Lions'. The medical staff found no reason to be concerned about Suh's past knee injuries.

The bottom line is that Suh absolutely destroyed opponents on the college level last season and has the unique athletic skills to control games on the NFL level. He has an opportunity to be the Lions' best defensive player in decades and be a cornerstone of their roster resurgence. We have to be careful about saying anything with certainty when it comes to the draft, but as of today, I think the Lions would have displayed a colossal example of overthinking if they had drafted anyone other than Suh.

Riskiest move

Minnesota has sentenced itself to at least one more year of long-term uncertainty at the most important position in sports. This might not have been the best quarterback class of all time, but as we discussed earlier this month, you can't get a hit if you won't take the bat off your shoulder. At some point, you've got to take a cut.

(And I'm sorry. Taking UAB quarterback Joe Webb at the bottom of the sixth round doesn't count. Webb is probably going to be moved to receiver. That's more like having a wild pitch hit your bat in self-defense: There's no intent. OK, enough baseball references for one day.)

We're expecting Brett Favre to return in 2010. And even if he retires, I doubt the Vikings would have replaced him with a rookie quarterback this season. But the two quarterbacks on the roster, Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels, looked unprepared for the job in training camp before Favre signed last summer. It's hard to believe that either player projects as the Vikings' long-term starter.

[img_r]http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2010/0424/nfl_i_bulaga_200.jpg[/img_r]It takes some time to develop a young starter, and the Vikings keep pushing back their timetable. They've been patching the position together for five years, dating to the career-alerting injury Daunte Culpepper suffered in 2005.

I guess there's always next year.

Most surprising move

Sometimes the biggest surprise is what doesn't happen. And I don't know many people who thought Green Bay would be able to draft Iowa left tackle Bryan Bulaga without first trading up in the first round.

Perhaps he was a classic case of mock drafts overtaking the public consciousness, but Bulaga was considered a top-10 pick by some media analysts. Given how difficult it is to find long-term left tackles, it seemed almost certain that the Packers would have to sacrifice part of their draft in order to get Bulaga or any of the other top players at the position.

But an unpredicted run on other positions left Bulaga still on the board when the Packers' spot at No. 23 approached. The Packers snapped him up, and the fortuitous turn of events allowed general manager Ted Thompson the flexibility he needed to address other positions more aggressively.

Had he traded up in the first round to get Bulaga, Thompson would have been less likely to move up in the third round to grab Georgia Tech safety Morgan Burnett. Bulaga's slide, therefore, allowed Thompson to fill a top need and also walk away with an additional likely long-term starter at another position.

File it away

Minnesota gave us an intriguing long-term question to follow. Whom would you rather have: Bruising tailback Toby Gerhart and high-upside defensive end Everson Griffen? Or explosive Cal tailback Jahvid Best?

That's one way to look at the trade that allowed Detroit to move up four spots, from No. 34 to No. 30, and grab the tailback they coveted most. The Vikings clearly intended to grab a runner as well, as evidenced by their second-round move Friday to take Gerhart. But by giving up the 30th spot, the Vikings also moved up into Detroit's higher slot in the fourth round (No. 100 overall). It's pretty unlikely Griffen would have been available at their original spot (No. 128 overall).

Who knows how this gambit will work out. If Best proves to be a dynamic playmaker, the Vikings might rue their decision to let the Lions move up. But it's also possible that the net contributions of Gerhart and Griffen will outweigh those of Best. Let's meet here in a few years and we'll start drawing conclusions.

Putting a bow on NFC North's draft 
April, 25, 2010
By Kevin Seifert


Let's clean out our notebook with the 2010 NFL draft in the books:

Many of us considered offensive tackle and outside linebacker as Green Bay's top two needs in this draft. The Packers drafted Iowa's Bryan Bulaga to address the former, but they came up empty on the latter and don't have an obvious answer at the position shared last year by Aaron Kampman and Brad Jones.

That's a particular blow for a team that generally sits out veteran free agency. But general manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy both hinted a linebacker move of some kind could be on the horizon.

"We didn't draft any linebackers this year," Thompson said, "but still we're going to be trying to add some stuff to that position, sure."

According to ESPN's Stats & Information, NFL teams drafted 36 linebackers over the past three days, more than any other position.

The Packers drafted a running back in the sixth round who missed the entire 2009 season after undergoing shoulder surgery. McCarthy wouldn't commit to whether Buffalo's James Starks will be cleared for all of spring drills.

"We're very comfortable with his particular medical situation," McCarthy said, "but until he gets here and gets to work, we'll have a complete idea of where he is."

Starks, 6-foot-2 and 218 pounds, has the kind of size to make a difference

We discussed the inconsistency that dropped USC defensive end Everson Griffen from possible first-round status to Minnesota's fourth-round pick. Speaking to local reporters, Griffen said he is "not a big guy to make excuses" but revealed he played half of last season with a turf toe.

"It was a bad turf toe," he said. "Two months ago, it finally started feeling better. You just got to want to play at that level and that's what I want to do. ... Coming off this injury affected me for about half of the year, but I'm feeling 100 percent. I'm ready to go. No new injuries."

Vikings director of college scouting Scott Studwell referred to Griffen as "a college student that enjoyed the college life a little bit," a nice way of saying his game might have been affected by his social life. To his credit, Griffen didn't dispute that notion.

"What college kid doesn't enjoy college?" he said. "College only happens one time, and you learn from your mistakes. I wouldn't take anything back from my college experience. You learn from your mistakes, and that's how you become an adult. That's what I did. I learned from my mistakes."

Detroit plans to work fourth-round pick Jason Fox on both the left and right side, offensive line coach George Yarno told local reporters. Fox is still working his way back from a torn patella tendon.

"He'll rotate both tackles: Left and right and see where it goes from there," Yarno said. "I think with his injury and everything, it will take some time before he's ready to go. We're looking at him as kind of the third tackle right now [behind starters Jeff Backus and Gosder Cherilus] and see where the competition will go from there."

Lions general manager Martin Mayhew was at it again Saturday, upgrading the throw-in draft pick he got in the Tony Scheffler-Ernie Sims trade earlier this month.

To review: As part of a three-way deal, the Lions sent Sims to Philadelphia and got Scheffler from Denver. The Broncos also gave the Lions their seventh-round draft pick, No. 220 overall. Saturday, the Lions sent that pick to Philadelphia in exchange for the Eagles' sixth-round pick in 2010. At this rate, it will be a first-rounder by the time next April rolls around.

We briefly touched on the possibility of Chicago pursuing Pro Bowl guard Alan Faneca, who was released Saturday by the New York Jets. Asked about the possibility by Chicago reporters, Bears general manager Jerry Angelo wouldn't rule it out.

"I don't know who would not consider Alan Faneca, if you had a need at the offensive line," Angelo said. "Again, we'll look into some things, like we did before the draft."

Something to keep an eye on, for sure.

The Chicago scout that handled the report on Central Michigan quarterback Dan LeFevour referenced New England quarterback Tom Brady during an interview with Chicago reporters. Scout Jeff Shiver said: "A long time ago, I missed a quarterback in the sixth round. I think he's still with the Patriots."

I think that was Shiver's way of suggesting the Bears did more than take a sixth-round flyer on a local kid who grew up with a Walter Payton jersey on his wall. They believe he can develop into a legitimate NFL quarterback.

The Chicago scout that handled the report on Central Michigan quarterback Dan LeFevour referenced New England quarterback Tom Brady during an interview with Chicago reporters. Scout Jeff Shiver said: "A long time ago, I missed a quarterback in the sixth round. I think he's still with the Patriots."

I think that was Shiver's way of suggesting the Bears did more than take a sixth-round flyer on a local kid who grew up with a Walter Payton jersey on his wall. They believe he can develop into a legitimate NFL quarterback.

taking bryan was surprising? really?

"fudge-packer" wrote: